China has issued new regulations governing human organ transplants, state media has reported. From 1 May, doctors and hospitals who violate a ban on commercial trade in organs will face fines and suspensions. The number of hospitals allowed to perform transplants will be restricted and it will become a crime to harvest organs without the donor's consent. Critics say China's transplant industry is beset by illegal practises with many organs coming from executed prisoners. The BBC's Quentin Somerville in Shanghai says that organs have been a lucrative and thriving business for the military and China's under-funded health system. Death row prisoners Under the new rules, doctors and clinics involved in the illegal organ trade will have their licenses revoked and will be subject to high fines, Xinhua news agency reported. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

U.S. software mogul Charles Simonyi is due to blast off aboard a Russian spaceship on Saturday watched by his friend, lifestyle guru Martha Stewart. Simonyi, 58, a billionaire founding father of Microsoft, will depart for the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Soyuz TMA-10 spaceship with Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov at 11:31 p.m. (1731 GMT).A crowd of friends and relatives shouted "Charles, have a good flight" and "Go, Charles" as First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov greeted the crew, already clad in chunky spacesuits, at a final goodbye ceremony.Two and a half hours before the flight, Simonyi and Russian cosmonauts boarded the Soyuz rocket, brightly lit against the dark Kazakh steppe. Simonyi, the world's fifth space tourist, paid $25 million for the 12-day trip....http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070407/ts_nm/kazakhstan_space_dc

Christian worshippers filled their most revered church on Saturday, lighting row upon row of candles, pouring hot wax onto their faces and dancing in celebration of the Orthodox Easter 'holy fire' ritual.But with tens of thousands of pilgrims packed into the walled Old City for Easter, many said they had been unable to get past police barriers to reach the ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, in Jerusalem's Old City.The ancient church, where many Christians believe Jesus Christ was crucified and entombed, was filled with the smoke of blazing candles seconds after Orthodox religious leaders descended into an underground chamber and emerged with a flaming torch.Israeli police helped worshippers light candles from the flame, many of the faithful stretching their arms across barricades erected to keep the surging crowd back from the shrine marking the traditional site of Christ's crucifixion....http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2007-04-07-holyfire_N.htm?csp=34

Hundreds of girls at a Mexican boarding school run by Roman Catholic nuns have been hit by a mystery illness that the authorities say is psychological. Headmistress Margie Cheong, a nun from South Korea, said it was unclear what causes the symptoms, which include difficulty walking and nausea. Some 600 of the 4,000 pupils at the Villa de las Ninas school outside Mexico City have been affected. The outbreak has prompted allegations of abuse by the nuns. 'Strict discipline' Mother Superior Margie Cheong said she regretted not immediately informing parents, when the first cases occurred in October. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6534081.stm

Pakistan's government has told the BBC it will take action against the head of a radical mosque in Islamabad, following comments he made on Friday. Maulana Abdul Aziz said he was ready to set up an Islamic court to stop "vulgar activity" and warned of suicide attacks if the state acted against the mosque. A government official said restraint would be used to deal with the matter, to avoid "a law and order situation". He said negotiations were under way to stop a repeat of the "silly remarks". The government is facing calls to clamp down on students in two madrassas attached to the mosque, whom human rights groups say are "terrorising ordinary citizens in the name of Islam". If the government does take action, "our last resort will be suicide bombings", Mr Aziz declared to thousands of followers during Friday prayers. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6535363.stm

The captain and five officers of a cruise ship that sank off an Aegean Sea island were charged Saturday with negligence, state television reported. The six officers were charged with causing a shipwreck through negligence, breaching international shipping safety regulations and polluting the environment, state NET said. All were released pending further investigations. If convicted, the officers face a maximum five-year sentence. Nearly 1,600 people were retrieved from the sinking ship Thursday in a three-hour rescue operation after the vessel foundered on a volcanic reef, but some passengers complained of an insufficient supply of life vests, little guidance from crew members and being forced into a steep climb down rope-ladders to safety. Divers continued to search for a Frenchman and his daughter who disappeared after their cabin flooded with water when the ship struck rocks. ...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/07/world/main2660233.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_2660233